Chrysler K-car

The K-car was designed to be a rugged, sturdy, utilitarian-style, and (most importantly) inexpensive car when the Chrysler Corporation came out with the Dodge Aries and the Plymouth Reliant in the early 1980's. The quality of the car's build was not perfect, but it was certainly better than the Dart or the Valiant.

The car was a six-seater with a roomy, boxy body, a 2.2-liter "Trans Four" engine (with an optional 2.6 liter Mitsubishi engine, later a 2.5 liter Chrysler), and front-wheel drive. The car had power, and even the dashboard had a basic layout, with just a few dials, lights and whatnot. Most importantly, it was an affordable American competitor to the vast numbers of imported compact cars available in the early 80's.

As time passed, LE "luxury" models were designed for the Aries and the Reliant, and Chrysler developed the LeBaron, which had gotten a facelift to the original K-car body.

In the early 90's, the Aries and the Reliant got a serious makeover, resulting in the Spirit and the Acclaim, respectively. The new models had even more power than the original cars, carrying within their engines some serious hardware reworking. The body and interior of the car were still nothing special, but they were functional and comfortable, and a little less boxy than the originals.

The K-car undercarriage was even translated into a minivan in the form of the Plymouth Voyager, one of the first American-made minivans and the saviour of the Chrysler Corporation.

The K in K-car can be found in the model number of the car, and the letter K could be found next to the model name on the trunk of the car the first few years. Chrysler had assigned the letter "K" to the group of cars before they were sold, and newspaper advertisements touted the arrival of the "K cars". And thus, the K-car was born.